Top 10 stories: Oakmont's Poulin cleared to play

Editor's note: The Sentinel & Enterprise is counting down the top-10 most-memorable local sports moments of 2012, as voted by the sports department, leading up to the unveiling of the year's No. 1 story on New Year's Day.

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No one can question that Dylan Poulin played the game of baseball with a lot of heart. But if they only knew what Poulin's heart actually looked like, they'd even have a greater appreciation for how hard he played the game.

The 5-foot-11, 175-pound Poulin, a then-senior star at Oakmont Regional High School, was known as a battler on the diamond, but his real-life battle is much greater than trying to square up and hit a mid-80s fastball.

Poulin, 18, was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy the day after his 13th birthday and has watched his health deteriorate over the past five years.

Poulin's fight for life and love of baseball has been voted the Sentinel & Enterprise's No. 4 local sports story of 2012.

"(The condition) started at moderate and it's kind of gradually gotten worse and worse until now where it's severe," said Poulin during the spring season. "Nothing I can do about it but live day-to-day.

"The numbers have shown it and I went into congestive heart failure about a month and a half, two months ago. I had fluid in my lungs and my heart, and that's when I knew it was starting to get bad."

According to

com'>mayoclinic.com, dilated cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle, affecting the heart's main pumping chamber (the left ventricle). The left ventricle becomes enlarged (dilated) and can't pump blood to the body with as much force as a healthy heart can.

Dilated cardiomyopathy is a common cause of heart failure, the inability of the heart to supply the body's tissue and organs with enough blood. It may also cause irregular heartbeats (arrhythmia), blood clots or sudden death.

With the way Poulin's heart has weakened, the doctors at Children's Hospital in Boston had already been talking about a heart transplant.

"I'm going to meet in four months with the heart transplant doctors," said Poulin in April. "I won't be on the list yet, but they think it's coming sooner than they may have wanted."

Poulin said he was last at Children's Hospital in late October and was told he heart hasn't worsened since his previous visit.

"For now, the heart transplant is on hold, so that's great," Poulin said Thursday evening. "I haven't been feeling great, but I'm happy with (the heart) being stable."

Poulin, however, still doesn't feel great day to day.

"Even now I've been feeling worse," he said. "I get tired now walking up stairs."

Poulin, who played for the Leominster Legion Post 151 baseball team that came up one game short of reaching the state tournament, says he's "officially" done playing baseball now.

"As much as I love baseball, the fun kind of has been taken out of it because the everyday activities get more and more frustrating," he said. "I'm pressing. I just kind of wanted to move on. It was a tough decision for me, but I'm happy with it."

Sports aren't completely out of Poulin's blood, though.

"Golf is my new sport and candlepin bowling," he said. "I'm just trying to stay competitive, ... that's how I am."

Poulin was extremely thankful that his doctors gave him the OK to play baseball for the Spartans for his senior season. He said at the start of the season that he felt both lucky and blessed to be able to put the uniform on again.

"Every second, every pitch, I enjoy every single second," he said. "Even when you pop up, but I enjoy every single second. I'm just glad to be with this team. I like everyone, so it's great to be here.

"The last few years I've been more focused on getting better, trying to get to the next level, but this year it's about having fun, still getting better and trying to win 100 percent. But this year you really realize that you've got to have fun. I've been realizing that."

Leominster Legion Post 151 first-year coach Kevin Barnaby said Poulin's love and passion for the game rubbed off on his teammates.

"He reminded all of his teammates why they decided to play the game when they were 5 years old," Barnaby said. "He made the game fun, and brought an energy to our team that was contagious.

"Dylan is an incredible young man who helped remind all of us why we love baseball. You would never notice he had a heart condition watching him on the baseball field."

Last spring, Poulin said he was just thankful to be able to end his high school career on his own terms.

"I think more kids need to realize that they're lucky to be here," he said. "There's kids that don't get to play sports. I'm so thankful just to be able to play -- even though it's only one sport -- to be able to play one sport my whole life. Even though it's going to end, everything's got to end at some point, so enjoy it."

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